"Colin is a rare trademan - a guy who does what he says he is going to do when he says he is going to do it – and tidies his mess up after him! He is an expert kitchen fitter and did a really great job for me at a very reasonable price. He is cheerful, takes responsibility and is willing to go the last mile for the customer. I will certainly use him again and would have no hesitation in recommending him to others"
Contrast this with the TV ariel fitter who was recommended to me last week as someone I could rely on to sort out my ariel. I rang him on Friday to book him but because he didn't have his diary to hand he asked me (the customer) to call him back Sunday with a view to making an appointment with him for Monday.
I dutifully rang him on Sunday only to be told that he couldn't fit me in on Monday but made an appointment for Tuesday instead, between 1200 and 1300hrs. On the basis that he would turn up as promised I re-arranged my schedule and waited in for him. Then when he didn't arrive by 1330hrs I rang him again, (now my third phone call), only to be told that he had had 'problems' this morning and could not guarantee getting to me today! And so to be on the safe side we arranged for him to come round at 0930hrs the following day, Wednesday.
0930 Wednesday came and went. Meanwhile I had to hang around in my dressing gown rather than risk being in the shower when he called and missing him. Then at 1041hrs he rang me. He apologised profusely for not getting to me at 0930 and shared with me frankly that he had had personal problems yesterday; he was sorry for messing me about and would knock something off the bill for my trouble. Furthermore he would be around at 1630hours this afternoon to look at the job. On the basis of his remorse I trusted that he would now keep his promise of a 1630 appointment and so I cancelled the swim I had arranged. He never turned up!!
This morning at 1035hrs I received a phone call from him to say he had just been knocking at my front door. I said "But I have been waiting in for you all the time". It then emerged that he had got the right street but the wrong town - some seventeen miles away! I recalled a conversation I had had with him at the beginning when I thought I had made it clear which town I lived in!
What is it that so many trademen trying to build small businesses don't get about the value of a loyal customer. What is it that they don't get about the fundamental need to communicate with customers when arrangements change, as inevitably they will do from time to time? This man came recommended to me by another tradesman whose reputation is now also tarnished by association. At the outset he could easily have been a candidate for getting the sort of public recommendation I gave to the joiner, but now he is a candidate for a complaint and at risk of the word going round locally not to use him.
Surely the goal for all businesses must be to nurture customer relationships with a view to those customers telling their friends about the great service they have received and bringing in repeat business and word of mouth recommendations? No? Am I missing something here? Too many tradesmen in particular fail to appreciate that quality of service is not just being technically good e.g. a good electrician, plumber, joiner or whatever, but rather it is a combination of those technical skills plus essential customer service skills. These crucially include such things as letting the customer know when the plan has changed, being reliable and sweeping up after you!
Customers will usually understand when things occasionally go wrong provided they are told at the earliest opportunity so that they don't end up having to hang around and waste their day(s) as I have now had to do. The ariel man's apology and offer to reduce the bill could have actually recovered the situation but then he went on to mess me about again. Making it a HABIT to contact customers to actively manage their expectations needs to become the norm for all tradesmen in the UK - not the exception as it currently seems to be.
POSTSCRIPT
I now have my new satellite dish, courtesy of the said ariel man. He did a good job at a fair price and it was clear from speaking to him that he had had one hell of a week. But then so have I. I showed him this blog entry and to his credit he appeared to take on board the feedback. I wish him success for the future.
